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A Man. A Woman. Just a Movie. Not a Polemic.

By BERNARD WEINRAUB,

Published: December 6, 1994

HOLLYWOOD, Dec. 5—
The fact that Hollywood's first high-profile film about sexual harassment involves a woman harassing a man leaves its creators and stars uneasy and a bit defensive.

"We're making a movie, not an issue," said Michael Douglas, a star of "Disclosure," the adaptation of the Michael Crichton suspense thriller about corporate intrigue and sexual politics, which will open on Friday. "It's really about the use of harassment as a tool for power. And it's very effective in terms of allowing people to look at the issue from the other side."

"Disclosure," which is directed by Barry Levinson, also stars Demi Moore as an ambitious and venal corporate executive on the rise and Donald Sutherland as her boss in a cutting-edge computer company.

The plot involves a married Seattle executive, played by Mr. Douglas, whose expectation of a promotion is shattered when he's passed over in favor of a cool, smart and ferociously ambitious executive (played by Ms. Moore) from the company's Silicon Valley headquarters. Ten years earlier, the two had an affair.

When the Moore character aggressively seeks to resume the affair, and is rejected, she promptly charges him with sexual harassment and seeks to destroy him. The film was adapted by Paul Attanasio, the screenwriter for "Quiz Show," who has turned it into a high-tech suspense thriller, complete with a virtual-reality sequence.

For Mr. Levinson, the Academy Award-winning director (for "Rain Man,"), the film is clearly an effort to take on a commercial, star-driven venture and get his career back on track after such prominent recent flops as "Toys" and "Jimmy Hollywood." For Mr. Douglas, the movie presents yet one more role in a highly successful career in which he depicts ordinary men in extraordinary situations. ("Actually I did some of this role in 'Fatal Attraction,' " he said. "But that was 10 years ago.")

And for Ms. Moore, the role of Meredith Johnson in "Disclosure" serves as a potential breakthrough into the top echelon of movie stars. Ms. Moore got the part after Annette Bening became pregnant and dropped out.

"In truth, I was terrified," said Ms. Moore in an interview. "Her nature is so different than mine," she said of the character she plays. "I didn't want to make her stereotypical. I didn't want to fall into the obvious trap of evil seductress. It's such a rich part: the complexities are endless. And in the end, she's probably a lot smarter than most of the people around her and I think really good at her job."

"We all know women and men like this," Ms. Moore continued. "Manipulative. Dishonest. She enjoys pushing buttons and watching people's discomfort. She's not out to hurt anybody as long as nothing gets in her way."

Ms. Moore said the sexual harassment issue, and the male-female reversal in the movie, deepened the film's high-speed plot. "This is a dynamic way of dealing with a volatile issue," she said. "The fact that the roles are switched provides us, I think, with a certain heightened sensitivity and awareness of this issue."

"Disclosure" is hardly the first film to deal with harassment and sexual politics; last month, for instance, David Mamet's "Oleanna" was released. But it is the first high-profile movie with big stars to try to tackle the issue.

Mr. Levinson said over breakfast one morning recently that the male-female reversal fascinated him. "Somehow if you flip the roles, you have to pay attention," he said. "The film was a way to look at all of this in a fresh light and see how difficult it is for anybody to say, 'I have a problem; this is what happened.' And knowing how dangerous it is for your life and reputation."

Acknowledging that "Disclosure" had become more of a thriller than an exploration of sexual politics, he said: "It's not a polemic; it's not the definitive film on sexual harassment. If that's what someone wants, they'll have to look elsewhere."

The film is considered to have some of the best women's roles in years, however, including the performance of a New York-based actress, Roma Maffia, as Mr. Douglas's lawyer.

As to Ms. Moore's character, Mr. Levinson said: "Some people look on her as a villain-villain. And I thought, Wait a minute. If this was a movie about a man harassing a woman, we'd never look on the guy in the same way. He wouldn't be such a villain. There are some cutthroat business executives out there. The fact that a woman does it makes her even more villainous."

The often tangled relations between men and women have been central to most of Mr. Levinson's films, which included "Diner," "Tin Men," "Good Morning Vietnam" and "Bugsy."

"The whole struggle between men and women, the struggle to understand one another, the frustration we have with one another have been themes in pretty much everything I've ever done," Mr. Levinson said.

With its marquee names and sexy plot, "Disclosure" is not the sort of movie one immediately identifies with Mr. Levinson. His early autobiographical films earned him a place of respect in Hollywood, which was further enhanced by the Oscar-winning "Rain Man," a film with big stars but not an obviously commercial story line. But the director, fully aware that he needs a hit after two consecutive failures, was delighted to take on this movie, he said, and he seemed pleased with the results.

"In today's marketplace, it just gets harder and harder to make personal films," he said. "It's getting worse. Even after you go through the agonies of making one, then you have to face the people at studios who say: 'We can't sell it. We can't market it. We don't know what to do with it.' "

Mr. Levinson recently moved to Northern California with his family, partly to escape the hothouse atmosphere of the film business, he said, and partly to send his two young children to good public schools. Of his recent failures, he said simply: "It's always disappointing. Sometimes movies are neither mainstream nor art house. They fall into a no-man's land. You do what you have to do."

He shrugged. "I'd be most upset if I were afraid to make those kinds of movies," he said. "That would scare me more than anything."

As to Mr. Douglas, the role of Tom Sanders in "Disclosure" is one more part in which the actor plays a more-or-less average man caught up with beautiful, dangerous women, from Glenn Close ("Fatal Attraction") to Sharon Stone ("Basic Instinct") to Ms. Moore. Tough work, but somebody's got to be the victim. "The part was pretty close to me," he said in a telephone interview. "I could be that person. I didn't have to put on a mask."

What appealed to him about making the movie? Mr. Douglas paused. Working with a director like Mr. Levinson, he said. And finding a highly polished script. "Besides," he said with a laugh. "It's a good ride."

Photo: The director Barry Levinson, center, with Demi Moore and Michael Douglas, the stars of "Disclosure." (Karin Anderson for The New York Times)